Tough-on-crime stance emptied California's pocketbook

Dec. 4, 2009

Updated Aug. 21, 2013 12:28 p.m.

1 of 6

California spent $277 per resident on its prison system, compared to $191 in New York, $190 in Michigan, $87 in Illinois and $112 in Texas. The gymnasium at San Quentin's houses 300 prisoners. MINDY SCHAUER, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

1 of 6

An armed guard stands watch in San Quentin's West Block. MINDY SCHAUER, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

1 of 6

California has the most costly state prison system in the nation. More than $8 billion a year is spent on a system plagued by inconsistent and outdated policies that have led to severe overcrowding and high recidivism. There are 13 guard towers at San Quentin Prison (shown above) to watch over its 5,300 inmates. MINDY SCHAUER, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

1 of 6

"If you put it at public safety's feet, the public will say, 'So be it. That's the cost of being safe,'" said Wayne Quint, president of the Association of Orange County Deputy Sheriffs. "Crime is a very important quality of life issue." ROSE PALMISANO, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

1 of 6

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger calls on lawmakers to approve a prison reform measure before the legislature during a Capitol news conference in Sacramento last August. RICH PEDRONCELLI, ASSOCIATED PRESS

1 of 6

State Sen. George Runner, R-Lancaster, displays part of a prison reform measure before the Senate as he urges lawmakers to reject the plan during the debate at the Capitol in Sacramento last August. RICH PEDRONCELLI, ASSOCIATED PRESS

California spent $277 per resident on its prison system, compared to $191 in New York, $190 in Michigan, $87 in Illinois and $112 in Texas. The gymnasium at San Quentin's houses 300 prisoners.MINDY SCHAUER, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

California's decades-long obsession with public safety has tied the hands of budget-makers who want to spend more on education and social services – and has given power, influence and wealth to the state's law enforcement community.

In this four-part series, The Orange County Register will show you the consequences of our state's tough-on-crime mindset:

• California has the most expensive prison system in the nation, but no proof that it makes us safer. More than $8 billion a year is spent on a system plagued by outdated policies, severe overcrowding and a high recidivism rate. Efforts to reform the system are attacked as "soft on crime."

• State and local governments are buckling under the weight of generous public safety pensions, given to police, firefighters and prison guards without sufficient examination of future costs. Pensions have driven one city to bankruptcy; others fear they are headed that way.

• California is more protective of its police than any state in the nation. Public safety lobbies have secured laws that keep police disciplinary records secret, making it almost impossible to publicly identify offending officers and determine whether they are being adequately punished.

Meanwhile, the California Dream has crumbled.

California has the highest general sales tax in the nation, the fourth highest individual income tax rate and the highest corporate income tax rate in the West, but spending per K-12 student is 25th out the nation's 50 states. California roads are among the worst in the nation, with 2/3 rating mediocre to poor, fourth worst in the country.

Graphics

August 20, Sacramento. It's a mild day for late summer, but the heat is on inside the State Capitol. After hours of debate, the State Senate has narrowly passed a controversial prison reform package.

The plan would reduce the state prison population by 27,000, providing desperately needed relief for a system holding 171,000 inmates--nearly twice capacity. The Republican governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, supports the plan, which reduces the penalties for some crimes and allows some convicts to serve their time at home.

Legislative Republicans, however, say the entire plan is soft on crime. That's enough to cause serious problems in the Assembly. Several Democrats there are eyeing higher office. Others face tough re-election bids. A "soft-on-crime" label could kill their political careers.

Faced with the choice of trying to fix an overburdened system or saving their own skin, the politicians look out for themselves. Assembly Speaker Karen Bass scrambles until midnight to find enough votes. It doesn't work.

Eleven days later, the Assembly passes a dramatically watered-down version of prison reform, a bill so flawed it leaves a $300 million hole in the state budget. Senate Leader Darrell Steinberg vows not to allow his house to vote on the Assembly's version unless further reforms are added, but his threat falls on deaf ears. On Sept. 11, with no further reforms in sight, the Senate passes the Assembly's watered-down bill.

The mere possibility of looking soft on crime has sent the Legislature to its knees.

Up and down the Golden State, from San Francisco to San Diego, voters consistently put their support behind tough-on-crime candidates, tough-on-crime ballot initiatives, tough-on-crime sentencing laws. Everyone wants to punish the bad guys and keep them off the streets. In the current fiscal year alone, public safety spending will consume $13.5 billion – 11 percent of the state's total budget.

But there are consequences to this mindset.

At a time when the state is struggling with its finances, the spiraling costs ofCalifornia's focus on public safety have tied the hands of budget-makers who want to spend more on education and social services – and have given power, influence and wealth to the state's law enforcement community. Consider:

•State and local governments are buckling under the weight of generouspublic safety pensions, which were given to police, firefighters and prison guards without a sufficient examination of future costs. Pension costs have driven one city to bankruptcy and pushed others in that direction. Since the pensions were liberalized in 1999,state pension resources have fallen from a surplus of $32.8 billion to an unfunded actuarial liability of $35 billion last year, according to the state's own numbers.

•California has become more protective of its police than any state in the nation. Police and prison guard unions and otherpublic safety lobbies have secured laws that keep the public from gaining access to police disciplinary records, making it almost impossible to publicly identify offending officers and determine whether they are being adequately punished.

Meanwhile, the services California provides to all its citizens are in trouble:

State spending on primary education is mediocre. A 2008 study by the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office found that California spent $7,673 per K-12 student, 25th out of the nation's 50 states. (See report in PDF, p. 57) Budget cuts this year could push the state further down the list.

California roads are among the worst in the nation. A 2009 study by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials and TRIP, a national highway research group, rated 66 percent of California roads as mediocre to poor, fourth worst in the country. (See report in PDF, p. 10)

You can't blame public safety for these problems, but California would have more money at its disposal if it could more efficiently fight the war on crime.

Victims' rights advocates agree the state has to be smarter in how it spends its money. But if it comes down to a priority, they say, public safety must come first.

"Your schools aren't any good unless you are safe there," said Harriet Salarno, whose daughter was murdered in 1979 at the University of the Pacific in Stockton. Salarno is the president of Crime Victims United of California.

"Clearly people want to be safer, but what we don't know is what makes us safer. Maybe it is something we should know before we start gutting the education system," said Raphael Sonenshein, a political science professor at Cal State Fullerton.

"We've made a lot of decisions without examining the factual basis for them."

FEAR OF CRIME

"Every Californian wants to believe in the California Dream," said Bill Whalen, a former speechwriter for former Republican Gov. Pete Wilson. "(N)othing strikes the quality of life like being the victim of a crime or being afraid of crime.

"We want to have our children walk to school and walk home without being abducted. We want to drive our convertible, park our convertible and come back to our convertible without it being stolen."

That's what makes the politics of crime so effective – and so scary to some experts.

"Crime is a very powerful symbol to have on behalf of a political agenda, it's a very powerful motivator," said William F. McDonald, sociologist and co-director of the Institute of Criminal Law and Procedure at Georgetown University. "Politicians hide behind it, use it, exploit it....You can put a lot of stuff behind that label and get away with it."

A study by the Stanford Criminal Justice Center found that California has made 80 substantive increases to its sentencing lengths since the late 1970s, in addition to countless smaller efforts to toughen up on crime. Twenty-four tough-on-crime ballot measures have gone before voters over the past 20 years. Seventeen have passed.

From 1999 to 2008, the violent crime rate here has dropped nearly 20 percent, outpacing five of the eight largest states and the US as a whole, which saw a drop of 13 percent. Only two of the large states had a greater drop in violent crime over those years – New York (32 percent) and Illinois (28 percent).

But California's drop in crime hasn't made it much safer relative to other states.

In 1999, California had the third worst violent crime rate (627 violent crimes per 100,000 residents) among those eight large states.In 2008, it had the fourth worst rate (504 crimes per 100,000). In both years, California's crime was well above the overall US rate, which was 523 per 100,000 in 1999 and 455 per 100,000 in 2008.

Meanwhile, California far outspent the other seven large states on prison costs, measured both in raw numbers and per capita.

California spent $277 per resident on its prison system, compared to $191 in New York, $190 in Michigan, $87 in Illinois and $112 in Texas.

Ron Cottingham, president of the Peace Officers Research Association of California, says the state's drop in crime is a testament to the sentencing enhancements passed by lawmakers and voters.

The harsher sentences have been "a great help to the crime rate," said Cottingham. He also argued that the state's sentencing polices are such that only the most dangerous, repeat offenders end up in prison. "It takes a lot in California for a person to get into prison," he said.

LAW ENFORCEMENT'S INFLUENCE

The Register talked with four experts on prisons or criminal law who said the cause-and-effect is not so clear cut.

Thomas Griffith, a criminal law professor at the University of Southern California's Gould School of Law, says only 10 to 15 percent of the drop in crime can be attributed to tougher sentencing laws. The rest, he said, can be attributed to a number of other factors, including the economy, changes in community attitudes about crime and smarter policing.

And as for gauging how California's system stacks up to other states', Griffith said it's incredibly difficult to do. Each state has its own unique economy, demographics and geography, all of which influence the crime rate. To compare, you'd have to adjust for all of those factors and more.

"It's harder than you can imagine, Griffith said.

Despite this uncertainty, law enforcement wields significant influence in the State Capitol and in City Halls across the Golden State.

Politicians listen because they want law enforcement's endorsement, and because law enforcement spends millions on campaign contributions and employs more than a dozen lobbyists in Sacramento.

Over the past nine and half years, law enforcement groups – unions, political associations and other organizations – have contributed more than $35 million to political parties and politicians at the state level.

Two Orange County organization rank among the Top 15 contributors, the Orange County Professional Firefighters Association, at No. 12, with contributions of $290,000, and the Association of Orange County Deputy Sheriffs, at No. 15, with $192,000 in contributions.

The top spender? The California Correctional Peace Officers Association—the prison guards union—at $13 million, about the same spending as the California Teachers Association.

"You never, ever lose an election by being pro-law and order. Legislators know this fear," said Bob Stern, president of the Center for Governmental Studies in Los Angeles and a co-author of California's 1974 Political Reform Act.

"It's always at your peril to bet against the police union."

Law enforcement officials counter that the public wants to be safe; wants tax money spent battling crime.

"If you put it at public safety's feet, the public will say, 'So be it. That's the cost of being safe,'" said Wayne Quint, president of the 1,800-member Association of Orange County Deputy Sheriffs.

"Crime is a very important quality of life issue," he said. "I don't feel we're the 800-pound gorilla. It's marketplace driven."

User Agreement

Keep it civil and stay on topic. No profanity, vulgarity, racial
slurs or personal attacks. People who harass others or joke about
tragedies will be blocked. By posting your comment, you agree to
allow Orange County Register Communications, Inc. the right to
republish your name and comment in additional Register publications
without any notification or payment.